Tars Escape Tampa With Victory.

Maybe it was the lack of success in the past in the Bob Martinez Center. Maybe it was the reliable shooting strokes that eluded them. For whatever reason this game just felt like one that the Rollins Tars would not pull out in the end.  To tell you what a strange day it was inside the Martinez Center, a Rollins team that led the Sunshine State Conference and the country in free throw shooting coming in (at 81 percent) only made good on 50 percent of the trips they made to the line Saturday (11-22.) In the end though the Tars escape with a 59-58 win and a season sweep of the Spartans.
  Rollins (13-6 6-3 SSC) was led by the pair of Joey Galvis (14 points) and Sam Philpott (11 points) off the bench.  Jeff Merton and Alex Blessig each scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds in the victory.  The Tars shot 43 percent (21-49) in the game.  They shot 40 percent (6-15) from the 3-point line.  The Tars did not fare well at the free throw line, where they shot 50 percent (11-22.)  The Tars edged the Spartans on the boards 40-36.  They had 11 assists and 15 turnovers.
  Tampa (5-13 1-8 SSC) was led by 12 points by Austin Rettig.  Marcel Robinson would add 11, despite going just 3-14 from the field in the loss.  Rettig was 5-18, the two combined to go 5-19 from the 3-point line.  Tyler Zacur added nine.  Duke Shelton had seven points- eight rebounds- and blocked five shots. The cold shooting Spartans shot 33 percent (21-63) from the field- they shot 37 percent (11-38) from the 3-point line.  The Spartans also shot 50 percent (5-10) from the free throw line.  The Spartans had 14 assists and 12 turnovers.
  The game got off to a slow start offensively for both teams. It would be tied at two five minutes in.  Tampa would take a brief 7-4 lead before the Tars would answer with seven straight.  A Jack Fleming 3-pointer at the 10:29 mark would cap off the 7-0 run and give the Tars a 11-7 lead.  The Spartans would score eight of the next nine to take a 15-12 lead on a Darren McClain 3-pointer at the 8:06 mark.  The Tars would then go on a 12 point run of their own to take a nine point lead (24-15) at the 3:35 mark.  Tampa would score seven of the last eight points of the half and the Tars would lead 25-21 at the intermission.
  Bedulskis would nail his first 3-pointer of the season to give Rollins a seven point lead 38 seconds into the second half.  Tampa would counter once again and retake the lead 32-30 at the 16:20 mark.  The advantage would grow to four two minutes later.  The Tars would regain the lead after a 7-2 run (41-40) at the 11:42 mark.  The teams would trade baskets and the Spartans would have a one point advantage (47-46) at the halfway point of the second half.
  The Spartans would extend the lead to four before the Tars would fight back to knot the game at 52 with 5:41 to go.  Tampa would regain a short lived three point lead before the Tars would get a personal five-point run by Blessig to take a 57-55 lead at the 2:03 mark.  The Tars lead would extend to four before a Marcel Robinson 3-pointer would cut it to one (59-58) with 40 seconds to go.  Tampa would get the last shot but Bacon's 3-point attempt was blocked by James Ferrell as time expired.
  Rollins will be off until  Saturday January 30th when they host Embry Riddle.  Tip time is set for 4 PM at Warden Arena.  You can catch all the action on the Geico Tars Sports Network on 91.5 FM WPRK Winter Park and worldwide at RollinsSports.com
Other SSC Scores:
Saint Leo 80 Nova Southeastern 61
Eckerd 79 Palm Beach Atlantic 67
Florida Tech 82 Embry Riddle 60
Lynn 100 Florida Southern 89
SSC Standings:
Eckerd 8-0 (17-2)
Barry 6-2 (13-3)
Rollins 6-3 (13-6)
Saint Leo 5-4 (12-7)
Florida Southern 4-5 (8-11)
Florida Tech 3-5 (11-8)
Nova Southeastern 3-6 (7-10)
Lynn 3-6 (9-8)
Tampa 1-8 (5-13)